Much like winning an Oscar, winning a Grammy is more the result of crass political campaigning (or music-industry cronyism) than any assessment of artistic achievement. Only this explains the outrageous “snubs” that litter Grammy history, notably in
- 1984, when The Police’s “Every Breath You Take” bested Michael Jackson’s “Beat It” and “Billie Jean”;
- 1985, when Lionel Richie’s Can’t Slow Down bested Prince’s Purple Rain and Bruce Springsteen’s Born in the U.S.A.;
- 2014, when Macklemore bested Kendrick Lamar for Best New Artist; and
- 2016, when Taylor Swift’s 1989 bested Kendrick Lamar’s To Pimp a Butterfly.
In this vein, Korean rapper Psy dominated the music scene with his hit “Oppan Gangnam Style” in 2012 – complete with a Guinness Award for the first video to amass more than 2 billion YouTube views. And no performer dominated in similar fashion until Canadian pop star the Weekend did with his hit “Blinding Lights” in 2020 – complete with 1.8 billion streams. This, notwithstanding that Kendrick Lamar might appear to have more to whine about …
In any event, just as the Grammys ignored Psy’s dominance in 2012, it has ignored the Weekend’s in 2020. Unlike Psy, however, the Weeknd is not taking this snub lying down.
Despite those metrics — plus a high level of visibility on other awards shows and events including the upcoming Super Bowl, and a widespread expectation in the industry that he would be a favorite heading into next year’s awards — the Weeknd received zero nominations for the 2021 Grammys.
‘The Grammys remain corrupt,’ the After Hours singer declared on Twitter hours after the nominations were announced. ‘You owe me, my fans and the industry transparency.’
(Rolling Stone, November 24, 2020)
No doubt the ultra-woke, first-time host – Trevor Noah of The Daily Show – will make hay out of this snub. But I hope he resists his tendency to cry racism. Because the Grammys were equally remiss in failing to nominate one of my favorite artists, Fiona Apple. After all, Marlow Stern, senior entertainment editor for The Daily Beast, hailed her album, “Fetch the Bolt Cutters,” as
the best-reviewed album of the year, and the first to receive a perfect ‘10’ rating from Pitchfork in nearly a decade.
(November 24, 2020)
I suppose, as a form of method acting, the Weeknd has been sporting makeup lately that makes him look like Jake LaMotta after suffering his worst beating in Raging Bull. I gather it’s for a video that apparently is taking longer to shoot than a David Cameron movie. But remaining in character might just be the Weeknd’s way of conveying to Grammy honchos and fans alike that the nominating process might have left him bloodied but unbowed.
That said, perhaps the Weeknd and Fiona can take heart in Grammy voters giving Beyonce 9 nominations. Because the only thing that explains their gesture is a vain attempt to continue currying favor with her music mogul husband, Jay-Z. After all, he returned a few years ago after boycotting The Grammys for nearly two decades. This, because he felt they were not giving his rap genre enough props.
Grammy honchos decided to make up and make amends by giving Jay-Z an Industry Icon Award in 2018. And they’ve been kissing his ass ever since by showering him and his wife with nominations. This saw them “rig” the nominating process to ensure “Jay and Bey” got record-setting nominations.
For example, they gave him the most of any artist in 2018 with 8; and her the most of any in 2020 with 9.
The problem, however, is that those honchos cannot rig the voting process in similar fashion.
This resulted in the oxymoronic spectacle in 2018 of Jay-Z being invited to take the stage as a Grammy icon, only to be denied the opportunity to take it even once as a Grammy winner, despite 8 nominations. Incidentally, they gave him 9 in 2014, but at least he saved a little face by winning two of those.
This potential disconnect between nominations and awards does not augur well for Bey … But perhaps she and Jay will prevail upon Grammy honchos to allow them to take the stage to reprise their 2014 sex show, masquerading as a marriage between rap and pop, to promote their respective brands. Because in this age of “Only Fans” exhibitionism, I doubt Bey’s Maxim-style photoshoot for the December issue of British Vogue will prove sufficiently titillating.
More to the point, though, the Weeknd, Fiona, Jay and Bey could have spared themselves dashed expectations and a lot of embarrassment if they had merely read the titles to some my commentaries presaging their fates.
- “The Grammys? A Friggin’ Snoozefest!” February 9, 2015
- “The Grammys Rapfest Snubs Jay-Z,” January 30, 2018
- “The Grammys Fading into Irrelevance. Even Drake Says So,” February 11, 2019
- “The Grammys: Not Only Irrelevant but Rigged!” January 26, 2020
Enough said…?
The telecast for this year’s Grammys will air on January 31, 2021. Tune in at your own risk.
But, in the meantime, ignore Drake’s half-assed attempt to show solidarity with the Weeknd by declaring that “the Grammy Awards may no longer matter.” After all, as cited above, he declared much the same before the show last year. Yet this mealy-mouthed rapper showed up to collect the 1 Grammy he won, even though he had 6 nominations.
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